Red Eyes
by Dragoon-Yue
Summary: Azmaria Hendric died of old age. Then she came back as a young woman with no explanation. After being dug out of her grave by Chrono she ends up moving to the Special Zone in Japan where she just may get some answers... Even if they do raise a few more questions. Post Manga. Crossover with Black Blood Brothers.
1. Job Interview

January 23, 2000, in a Manhattan apartment:

Azmaria stared at her blue-eyed reflection feeling bewildered and lost. Six months ago she had died of old age and was buried. She even remembered standing by her coffin – with her body in it – and watching it all. Then she woke up six feet underground and trapped. Thankfully Chrono had come to visit her grave and got her out when he had, blessedly, realized that she was alive (thank God for telepathy – and she meant that very literally). Joshua was the only other Apostle that this had happened to, but he had disappeared and Chrono wasn't sure where he was, or how to get in contact with him.

"Azmaria?" Chrono asked from the doorway, sounding concerned and startling the former Apostle half out of her wits.

"Sorry." He added sheepishly.

It turned out that without Rosette around making a racket wherever she went and dragging Chrono around by the collar (sometimes literally) he was actually very quiet... To the point of not only being creepy, but accidentally sneaking up on **everyone**, despite his penchant for heavy-duty boots. As such, he had been scaring the living daylights out of her since he had dug her up.

"I'll be alright." She said, turning to face him, "Just getting used to looking like a young woman again..." She turned to look at her reflection again, bringing a hand up to her naturally pale face and added, "Are these... 'color contacts' really necessary?"

Chrono sighed and said, "Azzy I had to put a telepathic... How do I put this... Uh, shield around you to keep people from noticing your... Oddities."

"Ah... I see..." Azmaria replied, disappointed.

She had thought that people had simply accepted her as she was. Silly her.

"We did." He told her gently, responding to her thoughts, "All of us. It was just shielding against the general public. Everyone you were close to saw you as you were, oddities and all. I promise."

Azmaria smiled, vastly relieved.

August 1, 2008, The Special Zone, Japan:

Azmaria nervously made her way to the large building and swallowed hard. She had just arrived in the country a week ago and was going to her first job interview to be a personal assistant. About a year ago she had finally met up with Joshua – entirely by accident – and found out that he had not only moved to Japan, but had gotten married as well. He had a two year old son and another baby on the way. Azmaria had been so happy for him when she found out.

It took a six hour conversation for Joshua to find out how lonely and out of place she felt. Chrono's tendency to wander all over the globe meant that she had been alone most of the time leaving her feeling depressed. She said nothing to him because he always returned with severe injuries. Aion, she had since learned, was not dead, though Chrono did keep him in check.

Joshua, being Joshua, he had refused to leave her high and dry and helped her get into Japan, where his wife had welcomed her warmly. When Chrono had found out that she was moving to Japan and why he had apologized for not being able to be there for her and had helped her move into her new apartment... Which turned out to be right next to Joshua's (Azmaria suspected that his wife had something to do with the sudden and convenient vacancy). Chrono had wished her good luck and promised to visit at least twice a year. He was under threat of bodily from Joshua's wife if he didn't since she was under the mistaken impression that Azmaria was his daughter due to the way that he interacted with her.

Taking a deep breath Azmaria centred herself in the here and now and walked through the front door.

She was seated on a couch, in a dim room lit by candles. It sounded romantic... Except for the fact that she had apparently applied for a job as the personal assistant to one Zelmen Clock – who was the 800 year old vampire sitting across from her on another couch and was known for many things that were not good. He was absurdly beautiful, had red hair and red eyes and was wearing a white and blue track suit. Covering most of his impossibly red hair was a touk of all things. He was currently going over her resume calmly.

Finally, he tossed it aside, rested his arms on the back of the couch he was sitting on and studied her while she tried not to squirm in her seat. She mentally reprimanded herself with a firm reminder that she had faced worse than Zelmen Clock and come out of it both in one piece **and** sane. Besides she had a cellular phone that she could use to contact Chrono in an emergency and if things got really bad... Well, Chrono had told her that he'd hear it if she thought at him strongly enough.

"You're hired." Zelmen said abruptly, much to Azmaria's surprise, "I'll have to get another assistant for feeding, but so far your the most qualified person that's applied, so I suppose that you'll have to do... Still... It's a pity that you don't have a body as nice as your face..."

Azmaria wasn't sure if she had been insulted, complimented, or both. Ah well, at least she had a job.

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, that's it. Just a couple of ideas that have been bobbing around in my head that I needed to get down. Hope that you guys enjoy.


	2. Meal Time

It had been a little under a month since Azmaria had been hired when she walked in on her boss having a meal – from a Human, not a blood pack. Normally it was very easy to tell when he had a woman over because they moaned and cried out a lot. Unfortunately, this woman was rather quiet and barely even gasping. Azmaria would later find out that she was a mute as she would end up being his regular meal. For the moment, however, she was just frozen in place.

Then she turned beet read and immediately retreated.

* * *

Half an hour later she returned very cautiously to find a smirking Zelmen sitting on the couch, watching her.

"You can relax. I'm done." He said, clearly amused.

Irritated by his amusement she walked in and was about to present the paperwork that she needed him to look at when he suddenly told her that she could take the week off. Azmaria was thoroughly flustered and confused, though she suspected that the reason was her earlier reaction to him feeding so she started apologizing – and was cut off by his laughter.

After a moment he said, "That's not why. You're on your period; the smell's going to make me hungry."

She turned beet red for a second time that morning.


	3. Burn

Azmaria was walking home one pre-dawn morning (still wearing her light yellow pencil-skirt suit) when she literally walked into a tall, broad-shouldered man. He was wearing wearing a black T-shirt and black leather pants and was with a few others who all seemed to be wearing variations on the same attire. The man she had walked into turned around, yelling at her to watch where she was going.

"I-I'm very sorry." She stuttered out, alarms going off in her head, "Please forgive me!"

"Forgive you?" He asked, "Well... I guess I could..." He grinned, showing off vampiric teeth and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "If you let me take a little bite out of you. It won't be much and I promise that you'll love it."

Terrified she shoved hard at him with a yelled "NO!" and her hand glowed with an Apostle's power, forcing the vampire back as the glow seemed to burn him. He yelled in pain – then burst into flames, dying almost instantly. For a brief second Azmaria thought that her power had somehow morphed into something dangerous, but then his friends suddenly burst into flames as well. She stared horrified.

"You don't want vampires knowing that you have that kind of power." Zelmen said from very close behind her.

She didn't look because she was bending over and throwing up from the sickly-sweet smell of burning Human flesh. She found out when she was done vomiting that he had followed her to return her bag, which she had left behind. Azmaria had never been so glad to have forgotten something – and was immediately horrified that she was glad that Zelmen had killed them all for her.

It would haunt her for awhile.


	4. Sei

Azmaria downed another bottle of water, the liquid somehow feeling and tasting thin and empty. She had been incessantly and unquenchably thirsty since she had come back to life and there was no medical reason why. She wasn't dehydrated in the least according to doctors (the frequency with which she had to run to the washroom could attest to that by itself).

"Thirsty?" Zelmen asked with raised brows as he stood beside her down the sunlit street.

He had, on a whim (mostly because he was bored), decided to wander around and – for reasons unspecified – decided to drag Azmaria along with him.

She panted for a moment before answering.

"Always. There's no reason why, but I'm constantly hungry – I mean thirsty. Why did I say hungry?"

Zelmen was giving her an odd look now that made the former Apostle very uncomfortable. Then Zelmen looked straight ahead and sighed.

"I hate asking for favours..." He said, sounding a bit irritated, "Especially from that guy. C'mon. We need to go and see someone."

Baffled – and relieved that he hadn't said anything about her slip of the tongue (because, really, being a vampire he could have said a lot) – she followed him, tossing her bottle into a recycling bin as she went by one.

* * *

It hadn't taken very long for Zelmen to get an audience with the Dragon King of the East, Sei, who was understandably curious about what could possibly bring Zelmen to his doorstep. He and Azmaria sat in a distinctly Chinese parlour as they waited for Sei's arrival. Azmaria wondered yet again why Zelmen apparently needed to ask a favour of Sei.

A door opened in walked a young Chinese boy in green and gold robes and matching hat. Perched on his nose were a pair of blacked-out glasses with no arms.

"Why are you here Zelmen Clock?" The boy asked.

"To ask a favour. I'll... Owe you one in return."

"...What is it?"

So Zelmen told Sei about Azmaria... Much to her dismay. When Zelmen was done explaining what he had seen and her slip of the tongue Sei had her kneel down in front of him. He placed his small hand on her head. The appendage started glowing and Azmaria felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in her belly as pins and needles danced across her skin. Then he was done and he pronounced her a dhampire.


	5. Boxes

Azmaria was in her nighty in her apartment bathroom, staring at her reflection, her color contacts in their container, feeling shell-shocked. Sei – after explaining that a dhampire is the offspring of a Human and a Vampire – had even identified which Bloodline she was from; Asura. In other words, Zelmen was her family. That was what had her so shell-shocked... She had family. Not adopted family, not friends who were like family to her, but blood related family.

"Haha..." She laughed uneasily, "Bad pun."

"What pun?" Zelmen asked, stepping into her bathroom and startling her half out of her skin.

What was it with powerful men and sneaking up on her?She turned to look at him. He was wearing his black and white track suit at the moment and – for once – had forgone the touk, revealing gravity-defying hair that looked like a flame, some of which fell down into his face.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" He asked, clearly amused and not in the least bit sorry.

"You just startled me." She admitted.

"So what was a bad pun?"

"Well, I've forgotten now..."

"Ah. To bad." He said mildly, then hooked his thumb over his shoulder and added, "Anyway you're moving out."

She was startled and a bit alarmed when she saw a man walk past behind Zelmen carrying a large, cardboard box. Azmaria bolted to the doorway to get a look at what was going on, Zelmen turning sideways to accommodate her slight frame.

Her apartment was being packed up.

"Wha-What? Why?" She asked, highly flustered.

"Because your vampire heritage is obviously starting to take over. You need monitoring."

Having no argument against this pronouncement she sighed, hung her head and conceded.

"So glad you approve." He replied sarcastically.


	6. Akahana

The movers – all vampires – were busy doing there jobs and otherwise minding their own business when they suddenly had gold-colored crosses (with blades on the ends) go flying past them to embed themselves with four 'thunks' in the walls, floor and ceiling in front of them. Turning around to identify the source of the absurd projectiles they found a surly-looking twenty-something foreigner with messy blond hair and blue eyes standing in the hallway.

"Oi." He said, "Where are you going with my friend's stuff?"

Azmaria, having heard the 'thunk' each crucifix had made on impact, peeked out of the front door at that point to find out what was going on. Zelmen stepped past her to stand in the hallway and stared at Joshua neutrally. Azmaria interrupted before things could degrade into a fight.

"U-um... Joshua it's alright, really! I need to go with him."

"Why?" He demanded, not taking his eyes off of Zelmen. "He's a vampire. It's not a good idea for you to go anywhere with one of them."

"Oh-ho." Zelmen replied with something between a smirk and a grin, "That sounds awfully racist of you."

Joshua gave him a hard grin and said, "I have good reason to be worried about her."

Joshua's wife and children chose then to step off of the elevator and into the hall behind Joshua.

"Eh? Dear, what's going on? Azmaria are you moving out? Why didn't you tell us?"

Azmaria sighed and explained. Joshua's family had shown know fear of Chrono even when they had seen him in his true form, so she saw no reason to keep the truth of her situation from them. When Azmaria was done Joshua pulled out his cell phone and made a call while his children gushed about how awesome it was that she was part vampire. Unexpectedly, Zelmen seemed to like them.

Joshua finally got through to the person he was calling and Zelmen's eyes went wide a moment later when he heard Sei's voice on the other end.

* * *

An hour later and Sei was at the apartment complex checking Joshua and his children. He confirmed them to be dhampires and then checked Joshua's wife as well, just in case. It was while he was checking her that he suddenly went still, surprise etched onto his childish face. After a moment he asked, "Why didn't you tell me that your were alive Akahana? I thought that you had died... Your sister. Is she...?"

Joshua's wife sighed and said, "She really did die. And I tried to contact you! I couldn't get through!"

"Ah. I see. I will see to it that such does not happen again." Sei replied, then turned to face in Joshua's direction and added, "It seems that you are my son-in-law... Of course that means that Jirou-san and Kotaro-kun are also my in-laws since you are of the Sage Bloodline."

Well, that was a bit of a surprise...

"Honey..." Joshua started, turning to his wife, "Why didn't you mention this?"

"I didn't want to get you involved with... Any of it... Especially with your history..."

"While I appreciate the thought sweety, please don't keep something like that from me again."

"I'm sorry..." She said, looking at him with big, watery, puppy-dog eyes.

He sighed and asked, "Anything else I should know?"

"Uh... You know how I go out once a week? It's get blood."

"Ewww..." Joshua's son said, unknowingly saddening his mother.

Joshua made a mental note to talk to the boy later.


	7. Moonlight

Jirou sat on the couch, staring at the blond – and very bored – foreigner a bit dumbfounded. Sei had explained that Source Bloods, such as Alice Eve, could occasionally produce a child with a Human and that before she had met Jirou Alice had a Human lover and she gave birth to a baby girl. Unfortunately, because she didn't age, Alice eventually had to leave. That girl eventually gave birth to Joshua.

Or so Jirou had been told. He was extremely relieved when, a minute later, Mimiko and Kotaro returned from the grocery shopping.

* * *

Chrono stood at Rosette's grave, trembling. It was the middle of the night with a full moon shining high above. Joshua had phoned him earlier and told him everything that had happened and what he had been told about the Sage's Bloodline – including the ability to reincarnate and how that worked. Chrono wondered if Joshua was responsible for his own resurrection and Azmaria's (though he wondered why they hadn't reverted to infants). If so... Was it possible that Rosette...? But if he was wrong then he'd be desecrating her grave...And if he was right...

He suddenly gave himself a swift mental kick in the rear for being dense. If she was alive then all he would have to do was reach out telepathically for her. So he did – and found her. She was dreaming about her childhood before Aion showed up. Chrono dug swiftly until he reached her coffin and then (carefully) punched through the lid and ripped it all away. Within Rosette slept, her clothes mostly rotten off. He tried waking her several time, but to no avail. Frustrated almost to tears Chrono begged her to open her eyes and look at him, or yell at him. Anything!

She did not wake.

As gently as he could Chrono picked her up and left, intent on going to where Azmaria and Joshua were, hoping that Sei – whoever that was – could help. However, the moonlight (no longer blocked by Chrono) pulled Rosette back to consciousness mid-flight.

"What happened to my clothes?" She demanded loudly, nearly startling Chrono out of the air.

Once he got over his shock – and hugged and kissed her – he took her back to his apartment, intent on getting her some clothes that weren't literally falling apart. Both slept in until well past noon and it wasn't because they had been talking.

It was a week before Joshua found out that his sister was alive.

* * *

**A/N:** Is this fanfic ever going to get a review?


	8. Distractions

It was night time as Chrono, Rosette, Azmaria, Zelmen (because Azmaria did not go anywhere anymore without him deciding to tag along), Jirou and Kotaro all sat in awkward silence... Mostly awkward because Joshua looked ready to rip their heads off, despite his pleasant smile.

"A week," He finally said, "Before you tell me... A month before you visit... And you thought that this was okay – **why**?"

"Er, well..." Rosette started, "We got... Distracted."

Joshua's expression went flat and his eyebrows shot up.

"Distracted?" He asked, "Should I be expecting a niece or a nephew in the near future?"

"Niece." They both said at the same time, Rosette blushing and Chrono looking sheepish.

"Ah." He said pleasantly, "I see. So that's why you remembered to come and visit."

Rosette laughed nervously and Chrono looked ready to hide. He seemed to have a better grasp of Joshua's current mood and wasn't entirely sure what the former Apostle was going to do once he dropped the facade. He never found out because Joshua got his revenge by teasing them mercilessly (while remaining mindful of young ears) and making them feel horribly guilty. His wife and son helped helped with the latter until the couple immigrated and moved into where Azmaria used to live.

Azmaria was delighted by this, Jirou and Kotaro were both pleased, Zelmen thought that the whole thing was funny and Chrono got a job as a Compromiser. He proved to be exceptionally good at it.

* * *

It was in his second month on the job that he ran into Stella, who had gotten into a 'disagreement' with Zelmen about Azmaria and where the former Apostle was safest. The Company immediately hired her for her combat abilities. Rosette, Azmaria and Chrono were glad to see her again, but they were worried that something was going to happen soon with the way that power seemed to be converging again.

Sei, Joshua and Kain were just as worried.


	9. Messes

The moon was hidden behind clouds as ugly, deformed creatures crawled out of the water and onto shore. Several brilliant blasts from above disintegrated each of them, leaving behind melted sand. Chrono breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since Aion had dissolved Pandemonium into the atmosphere these things would appear at random all over the globe. From what he could tell they were changed from people, corpses, animals, plants, insects and anything else Pandemonium's particles touched into... Something. A charactcher of demons. There was no way to change them back and even if he could there was nothing left of the person in that deformed shell.

He wished that there were a solution, but there wasn't and he was stuck eternally cleaning up Aion's mess. Satisfied that nothing else was coming out of the water that shouldn't exist Chrono flew home. He and Rosette had a wedding to plan.


	10. Wedding

Joshua walked his sister down the isle towards Chrono. It was a small wedding, though all of their friends and new-found family were present in dresses and tuxedos (there were no crosses anywhere and Jirou even had his hair tied back for once). Joshua couldn't remember the last time that he had seen Rosette, or Chrono, so happy before. The ceremony went smoothly, they exchanged vows and rings, kissed and celebrated with everyone – and then Aion made an appearance.

He picked up a glass of champagne, made an eloquent toast to their continued health and happiness, then informed them all that something had managed to reach the Kowloon King and they now seemed to have something akin to Pandemonium in the Eleventh Yard.

Then he left and stories had to be exchanged to understand the full magnitude of the threat. To say that there were a few surprises for the vampires was something of an understatement. Chrono just wished that Aion could have waited until **after** the wedding.

Aion stood in the warehouse the Kowloon King's remains were held in, staring at the 'egg' (he had no other word for it) that now contained the vampire. There were wide, angular seems all over it that occasionally lit up with light (usually green, or blue, but sometimes red). He had tried destroying the thing more than once since he had found it, but with no luck.

One of the monsters – looked like it used to be either a person or a corpse and was merged with something else that he couldn't identify – carried an unconscious person into the warehouse, heading for the egg. Aion killed both of them in a single shot.

A six-limbed figure watched from the shadows, careful not to be seen. She was going to need another method of resurrection than blood it seemed, but what? She'd have to look around to find a solution. The figure slipped away unseen.


	11. Territory

Mimiko had been asked to keep Kotaro busy, so she and Joshua's wife had arranged a play date. Kotaro was notably older than the toddler (the month old infant was too young to join in and was being breast fed anyway), but that didn't seem to be effecting things. When Kotaro's stomach made a loud, sour noise of hunger Mimiko sighed and went out to get some food for the ever hungry child.

Mimiko was almost back with the food when she saw a naked woman with what looked like fleshless wing bones arching out of her back standing on a rooftop. The woman noticed her and lept towards her, landing within easy arms reach. She went to grab the frightened Mimiko when she was suddenly flung to the side.

"Don't touch Mimi-chan!" Kotaro's angry voice yelled out from nearby.

Mimiko turned her gaze away from the strange woman to see the blond and blue-eyed youth standing on the sidewalk twenty feet in front of her, glaring furiously at the woman. Mimiko had honestly never seen Kotaro look genuinely angry before this.

"I need her." The woman said in a strangely expressionless voice.

"You can't have her."

"Why?"

"Because she's onii-chan's."

"Kotaro-kun watch your phrasing!" Mimiko exclaimed, embarrassed at his seemingly poor choice of words.

"She doesn't seem to agree." The woman commented, finally picking herself up.

"That's just because Mimi-chan is as dense as Onii-chan – so go away!" Then Kotaro pouted and added, "I don't want to fight."

The woman bowed from the waist, claimed that she did not want to fight either and vanished in the span of time it took Mimiko to blink.

* * *

As Mimiko and Kotaro walked back to the others she asked the boy why he had claimed that she was Jirou's.

"Because you are. Of course you're also technically Sei-san's... It's why your parents took you to Hong Kong; it was to see your grandpa Sei."

As Mimiko was trying to process this she demanded to know where he got such a crazy idea. Kotaro had no idea, but lately he just knew stuff. Mimiko had seen how accurate he was, which was now making her wonder. Kotaro was right about why she had been taken to Hong Kong all those years ago, but she had never thought – even for a second – that the name Sei was anything more than coincidence.

Nah. He had to be wrong. After all, she would have noticed if she were part vampire. Right?

* * *

That night the naked woman slipped into Mimiko's bedroom and whisked her away. Jirou chased after them for over an hour as Kotaro called everyone he knew before the woman finally managed to shake the Old Blood.

Unable to find them Sei took advantage of the genetic profile every employee of The Company had on record and had a test run. Kotaro's claim was confirmed; Mimiko was Sei's granddaughter and Akahana's niece. Everyone wondered why there were suddenly so many dhampires. They were normally very rare, but now there were the Christophers, Azmaria, Mimiko... Everyone wondered how many more were going to crop up.


	12. Life

Mimiko came too in an almost abandoned warehouse. Her head was spinning in circles and her ears were ringing so loudly that all other sounds were drowned out. Dazedly she lay there, unable to even think, let alone move.

_Something's wrong._ A part of her whispered through the haze.

It was enough to prompt her to look around. Laying on the ground (she wasn't sure how far away as she seemed to have no depth perception right then) like her was a dark-skinned and white-haired man in a white trench coat. He wasn't moving and she couldn't see his face, so she didn't know if she was conscious or not. A thought trickled into her otherwise numbed mind.

_What happened to him?_

"I have to use your power to subdue him." The voice of the naked woman said from somewhere, "I'm not sure how much longer you'll survive this, but being awake is shortening your lifespan. I am going to make you sleep again."

And then Mimiko's eyes suddenly got overwhelmingly heavy and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Kotaro came bursting into the room where everyone was discussing what they could do (while Jirou paced restlessly). Everyone stopped to stare at him in surprise.

"We have to get Mimi-chan back right now!" He exclaimed.

"That's what we're trying to do." Joshua informed him.

"No! **Right now**! She's dying! That bad woman is using Mimi-chan to keep Aion chained because Mimi-chan is like you and Azzy-chan!"

Joshua and Azmaria both lurched to their feet at that. The others all tense, remembering what they had been told about the powers the two used to hold. Mimiko was like them? One of those... 'Apostles'? Before speculation on that could go any further Joshua came to a realization.

"Chrono, can you pinpoint where Aion is? Mimiko-san is probably very nearby."

"Already got him." Chrono answered.

"Where?" Sei asked.

Chrono telepathically projected where Aion was and then said that he would meet them there just before a Gate (what looked like a magic circle) appeared under his feet and he disappeared in a flash of light. Everyone else raced for the doors.


	13. Mandate

Aion could feel everyone racing to where he was and could have strangled the lot of them. They were playing right into Pandemonium's plans. He had thought that she was dead, but it turned out scattering her across the globe had actually been precisely what she needed. It had scattered all the extra consciousnesses that she had been carrying around, freeing her from their collective grasp. The advent of the World Wide Web allowed her to then assimilate massive amounts of information and gradually find her scattered mind until she reached coherency levels that allowed her to pull enough of her particles together to form a new body. She still lacked the power to fly, but that would change soon enough. Maybe a few years.

Now if only he understood what the Kowloon King had to do with her restoration...

"He is deconstituded, but still alive. He cannot be destroyed without being thrown into the sun. In order to contain him properly until such a time as I can facilitate that goal I need him in one piece. My mandate is not death Aion, it is the preservation of life."

He knew that if she was telling the truth then he was going to have to help her. The problem was that he had no way of knowing.

"If..." He ground out with effort, "Your mandate... Is life... Then why are... You... Killing... That woman?"

"I could not get near Charity." She informed him, "Hope has children. Justice will be a mother soon."

Justice? Which one was that?

"Rosette Christopher."

Of course it was.

"The others are all dead. They did not have one of the Sage's bloodline, nor the Sage's blood, to preserve their existences."

Oh. Right. Of course. What?

"It will take too long to explain. Recommended course of action is to ask the Eastern Dragon King, or his elder sister, at a later date. However, I will explain that the vampires were made for war. They are one and all warriors. Treat them as such and you will make your path far easier."

The silence stretched as Aion processed her words and filed them away. Pandemonium's feet came into his line of sight. A moment later and she was kneeling in front of him, her expression more concerned and apologetic than he would have said she was capable of. He told her that she needed to get some clothes on. Smiling, she reached out and placed a hand on the side of his head and apologized for having broken him during his Tuning Ceremony.

Then she fixed what she had broken.


	14. Frozen

Chrono came in through a person sized door and glanced around briefly. There was a barrier up that had forced him to appear a few blocks away from the warehouse, but he had manage to orient himself and find his destination anyway. It only took a couple of minutes of walking before he reached his brother. He Froze him.

"You don't need Mimiko-san anymore, so let her go!" Chrono called out, sensing a familiar – though he couldn't place who it was – presence.

The responding voice echoed around to much for him to pinpoint where the person was.

"I will release her on one condition."

"...What?" Chrono asked, trying to buy time to figure out where the voice was coming from.

"You Freeze the Kowloon King for five hundred years once he is reconstituted."

Huh? He had no problem with doing this, but he really wondered why this person would want him to do that after going to the trouble of bringing him back in the first place.

"Because," The voice responded to his thoughts just before stepping out of the shadows so that he could see her (in just a pair of jeans and with no shirt on... Or bra), "My mandate is life, not death. I was created as an Ark when a natural disaster was going to destroy the homeworld of my creators. In the end I had to be launched early, leading to an error that caused me to crash into the Atlantic ocean. I was never able to recreate there bodies because my organic terminal died and I could not function with a Human terminal... And now all the wombs that I needed to bring them back are gone. My purpose is gone... So I will protect and preserve the Human race as I can. It is all I can do."

Chrono's telepathy always allowed him to sense when someone was lying or not, so he knew immediately and beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was telling the truth.

It came as a bit of a shock. He also wondered why she was telling him this. Chrono never did get the chance to ask her.


	15. Anger

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait; I was working on character designs for an original story.

* * *

Stella had gone ahead of her team as a scout since she could get to the warehouse much more quietly than a helicopter and a lot faster. She had also taken two others with her, one on her flier (which looked something akin to a cross between a stingray and a fighter jet with fins) and one on Solid August, which was a lion-like summons with a black diamond shaped protrusion where it's eyes should have been. Acquiring the necessary jewels for summoning had set her back quite a bit money-wise, but it had been worth it... If only because it meant that she could actually hurt Chrono for not calling and telling her what was going on!

She understood the whole chain-of-command thing (she really did) and why it was necessary, but there was a reason why Stella had been a mercenary; she hated the constraints of going through multiple people. At least back then she would have known what was going on. Joshua could easily be excused for not telling her, even Rosette (who was pregnant and – therefor – might not have been kept in the loop by the others) and Azmaria (who didn't even have her phone number yet because Stella hadn't been able to get past Zelmen's lackeys to see her). But **Chrono**? He had no excuse. At least Lord Sei had the presence of mind to contact The Company and get them to mobilize the Suppression Team rather than running off with the others to fight whoever, or whatever the threat was.

"Come." She said to the pair that she had brought with her, "We're getting a closer look."


	16. Barrier

Zelmen, Joshua and Jirou all arrived at the warehouse just as the Suppression team did. Out of nowhere the entire front wall and a sizable chunk of the roof was blown out by a giant, glowing, purple, European knight stumbling out of the warehouse. Gunfire could be heard within, along with shouting. It took everyone a moment to process what they were seeing.

"I'd heard about that thing..." Joshua commented, snapping the other two and some of the closer Suppression Team out of their stunned stupor.

Before anyone could move three figures burst out of another part of the building. One was Chrono, another was the woman (now in jeans, though she still had no top on) who had taken Mimiko. Jirou grit his teeth and launched himself at the woman, not even registering that the third person was the Kowloon King. Said vampire was understandably surprised when Jirou didn't immediately try to take his head off. He didn't get any time to speculate on the matter, however, because Stella took advantage of the momentary distraction to grab with the knight him and yank him back into the warehouse.

Joshua and Zelmen both ran into the building as well, with several others from the Suppression Team following. The place was almost empty, so it was easy to spot and get to Mimiko... Despite the massive European Knight trying desperately to hold down the Kowloon King. Zelmen stopped next to Mimiko (mostly because it was a good vantage point), watching the struggle for a possible chance to kill the Kowloon King (Azmaria would be very upset with him if he killed Stella and, no, he didn't have an explanation for why he cared).

Joshua worked at rousing Mimiko, his intuition telling him that she needed to wake up and quickly. He had long since learned that when his powers are active it's best to ignore instincts and it's paramount that he listen to his intuition.

When the Compromiser finally opened her eyes Joshua's face paled. Her iris had lost it's pattern for the most part (which should be impossible, but she was an Apostle so the same rules don't really apply) and there was a ring going through both of them. When she spoke it was in that to-old voice of an Apostle fully Awakened to their power.

"I'm erecting a barrier around the building. No one will be able to get in or out."

That was all the warning that she gave anyone.

* * *

Jirou saw the barrier going up around the warehouse, broke off his fight with a curse (all the while wondering who was putting up that barrier) and just barely jumped into the whole in the roof in time. Chrono teleported himself and Pandemonium back inside. The barrier was not tuned to block teleportation, thankfully.

Jirou landed and ran straight over to Mimiko. Joshua waved him off and told Jirou to stop fighting Pandemonium and to go help the others deal with the Kowloon King; Mimiko wasn't going to drop the barrier until he was dealt with. Not having time to question the Apostle he grit his teeth again and joined the others in the fight.


	17. Sidelines

Azmaria was in the limo that Zelmen had stuffed her into when she sensed Mimiko's powers flare-up and then maintain at a steady output. Knowing that the drain on her was already killing Mimiko Azmaria's powers also flared instinctively to preserve and heal. Several wards on the limo that Zelmen had put in place activated, clamping down on her power and harmlessly knocking her out. He knew the price of her Apostle powers, so he had set up safeguards in all of his cars and any buildings he frequented. There was a reason that he dragged her everywhere with him and it wasn't to be obnoxious, though irritating her did amuse him.

* * *

Sei paused, his tea cup half way to his mouth. He could sense Mimiko's powers and, unlike Azmaria, what she was doing with them. He smiled, a little impressed that she could use an aspect of his powers like that. It was admittedly crude by comparison, but not bad for a first try... And shocking considering her age.

The smile faded as Kotaro's warning rang through his head. The Sage's reincarnation had been slipped a sleeping drought when the blond child had mentioned that if he interfered with things Mimiko's chances of survival would drop to zero... Then said thirty seconds later that he was really worried and wanted to go and make certain that Mimiko was safe. At his current level of maturation Kotaro was having what Jirou had termed 'episodes' where he would act like he was far older than he was and know things a child shouldn't... Then go back to acting like a child, completely unaware of anything he may have just said and did. That had been one of those episodes.

Sei was not taking any chances.

He perked up when he sensed one of Zelmen's wards activate to subdue Azmaria. The Dragon King of the East wasn't sure if the wards were to protect Azmaria from herself, or to protect Zelmen from her. The Crimson-Eyed Prince seemed to be uncharacteristically attached to her and it made Sei worry a bit for her safety. There was nothing that he could do for her since she was of the Asura Bloodline, but it didn't stop him from worrying about what Zelmen intended to do if she ever became a threat.

Whatever he chose to do, Sei would be unable to interfere.

* * *

Rosette looked out the window – unable to sleep – finding herself suddenly worried about Azmaria. She wished that she had a gun, her baby was already born and that she could go out and check on her gentle friend. But it wasn't an option and Rosette sighed, resigned (for now) to be on the sidelines.


	18. Disappearance

While Stella kept the Kowloon King pinned down with her knight Pandemonium worked on fixing the egg. Finally finished, she flattened it out, thinned it (it was made of nanomachines after all) and then slid it towards the Kowloon King. Without skipping a beat Stella let the King up for a moment, before slamming him straight back down – and onto the egg. Pandemonium immediately sealed it around him, resulting in the knight loosing it's hand. Stella got a neural backlash that made it feel like she had just lost her own hand. She nearly fainted. Chrono caught her and Froze the Egg while the suppression team worked on securing the perimeter and Jirou went over to Mimiko. Zelmen simply left. He had done his part and there was nothing left for him to do. He wondered passingly why he always seemed to find himself going out of his way for the gentle ones like Kotaro and – most recently – Azmaria.

Pandemonium saw everyone's distraction and wasted no time in taking advantage of it to teleport herself and the trapped Kowloon King away. It wasn't easy to move something that Chrono had Frozen, but it was doable. At the last moment she released Mimiko and took Aion with her before he could react.


	19. Rant

It was the next morning as Chrono sat around waiting for his turn to be debriefed while Stella (who had since come out of her swoon and seemed to be fine) ranted at him about not being kept in the loop. He tried not to get angry or annoyed. The reason for his annoyance was the fact that his reasons seemed – to him – to be fairly obvious. Finally, his temper snapped and he said, "Have an infant son!" Whom he had only recently learned about, "If anything happens to you he'll be an orphan! You have no family and no godparents to look after the baby if anything happens, so yes, I'm not going to pull you into anything more dangerous than you already deal with. Frankly you shouldn't even be in your current line of work until your son is at least a bit older and has a few safety nets in place just in case the worst happens!"

Stella was a bit surprised at his uncharacteristic outburst. He was normally a calm person who was difficult to provoke (Rosette's and Aion's talent for it notwithstanding). Because he was normally the calm and measured on she stopped and silently turned his words over in her head. After a few moments she decided that Chrono wasn't wrong and told him as much.

"I'll see about tracking down my son's father and some godparents." She added, then sighed and said, "The latter should be fairly easy, but the former... May prove challenging."

Chrono's anger drained away and he returned to the calm demeanour he usually wore.

"I'll give you a hand if you need help finding him."

She smiled and thanked him.


	20. Consequences

Mimiko came around in a hospital. The first thing that she noticed were the machines that she was hooked up to. The second thing that she noticed was Sei sitting beside her bed – with no sunglasses and his eyes open. It was strangely surreal to see him like that... But more importantly; **why was he there**? She had no idea the significance of his eyes regarding the barrier surrounding the Special Zone, otherwise she would have been alarmed. She asked him why he was there and he considered his words for a moment before answering.

"What is the last thing that you remember?"

"The last thing...?"

Flashes of images went through her mind that she couldn't grasp long enough to put to words.

"I see." Sei said, as though he had read her mind.

He then proceeded to tell her what she had done. Needless to say she was a bit stunned.

"H-how is that even possible?" She stuttered out, stunned.

Sei considered his words carefully again and then explained that years back he'd had a Human lover who, when she found out that she was pregnant panicked and ran away. Sei had eventually found out when his twin daughters awakened as vampires and continually wouldn't feed until they lost control. One of his daughters was Mimiko's mother, who eventually married a Japanese man. He had believed that Mimiko had died with her parents during the Crusade. The only reason that he knew now was because of something that Kotaro had said that prompted him to check.

Mimiko had no idea what to say. She was part vampire? Her grandfather was **Sei, The Dragon King of the East**? Still weak from what had happened the shock of finding out all of this sent her into a swoon. When Mimiko came out of it all she could see at first was a golden glow. It took her a moment to realize that the glow was coming from Sei's hand.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concerned.

"Uh, yes... I'm sorry... I'm not normally like this..."

"It is alright. You kept an awakened Kowloon King from getting out when you are far to young to even have such powers. Truthfully, it was rather impressive. Unfortunately it has taken a toll on your body... Unless you become a full vampire you are going to be on life support for the rest of your life... I am sorry, but there is nothing else that I can do to help you in the long term."

Mimko felt the world fall out below her as his words sunk in. Being turned into a vampire would mean giving up being a Compromiser and she wasn't prepared, nor inclined, to give that up. She knew that in light of her current situation she should set it aside, but it's no easy thing to give up on a life-long dream. She told Sei as much. He told her think it over before coming to a decision and left the room. Jirou and Kotaro entered and she put on a brave face for them, not knowing whether they had overheard the conversation or not. She had no idea what their hearing range was like.

She found out just before they left an hour later that they had overheard everything when Kotaro promised to ask Azmaria to heal her so that she won't have to give up being a Compromiser. At least now she finally had some idea of how good their hearing is. Mimiko didn't even stop to wonder how Azmaria could possibly help her; she already instinctively knew. Like the albino woman she was an Apostle and all of them have a subconscious psychic link giving them an instinctive understanding of each other. It had nothing to do with being dhampires and everything to do with their inherent psychic abilities that allowed them to sense out, tap into and manipulate the Astral Lines. These abilities didn't come from their vampiric heritage; it came from the other half. Vampires could not actually have children with Humans at all; it was genetically impossible. However, there was another group that predated the Humans that they **were** compatible with. These were the ones that they could have the dhampire children with... And the main source of an Apostle's powers.

None of this was known by almost anyone so the Apostles and their existence remained a mystery to all but a very few of the most ancient vampires... And those they choose to tell.

* * *

Sei was waiting in the hallway for the Mochizuki brothers when they left Mimiko's room.

"I will speak with Zelmen about Azmaria."

Both Jirou and Kotaro were surprised by this pronouncement, but conceded nonetheless, Kotaro more cheerfully than his brother.


	21. Power

Sei stood in front of a lounging Zelmen Clock, weathering the dangerous glare directed at him by the red-eyed vampire. His concern over Zelmen's reaction had not been miss-placed. Most of the room looked like a scorch mark as a testament to just how displeased Zelmen was with Sei's request. The only reason that Zelmen had stopped at all and Sei had not been forced to retaliate was because Azmaria had come in and screamed for Zelmen to stop before he burnt down the mansion. Sei had been rather surprised when he had complied.

Now the two vampires were in a stalemate while Azmaria stood off to the side, trying not to shake from head to foot. It was her who finally broke the tense silence.

"U-um... Sei-san... Uh... What brought you here today?" She asked, immediately kicking herself for asking 'today' and not 'tonight'.

Zelmen came precariously close to making another attempt at lighting Sei on fire with his Eye Ignite. Instead, he held it back.

"I came to talk to you Hendrics-san." Sei replied without taking his eyes off of the currently volatile Zelmen.

"Eh? About what?"

"Mimiko-san. She is currently on life support and will remain so for the rest of her life if things remain as they are. Her options are to either be turned into a full vampire – which would mean giving up a great deal – or to be healed by you."

"I already told – the answer is 'no'." Zelmen interrupted sharply, angerly.

Azmaria glanced over at him in surprise, then her gentle face set into determined lines and she turned her attention back to Sei.

"Please come with me." She said politely and started leading Sei out of the room.

Then they both found Zelmen – near enraged – suddenly blocking their path.

"Don't you dare defy me." He told a frightened Azmaria.

She swallowed her fear and said as calmly as she could, "All my life people have been vying to control me and keep my powers for there own selfish reasons... I would rather that you did not join those numbers."

Sei was surprised – and inwardly relieved – when he saw the rage leave Zelmen, though the red-head did not relax his stance, nor move. He also still looked very displease.

"I'm not trying to control you Azmaria..." Zelmen stared at her upturned face for several long moments before adding, "The amount of healing that the Compromiser needs right now will put you in a coma. That's why I told him 'no'."

"It's still not your choice to make." She told him, feeling calmer.

Zelmen's temper flared again and he slammed the side of his fist – literally – into the wall, snapping at her as he did so, "I'm your guardian – it is my choice!"

"'Guardian'?" Sei asked, the question also floating through Azmaria's startled mind.

Zelmen's temper died as quickly as it had flared and he muttered a curse in his native Polish as he extracted his fist from the wall, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Sei and Azmaria were both thoroughly confused, though the former hide it very well. Zelmen was not acting like himself at all and that by itself was alarming.

"It's not important right now!" Zelmen finally snapped, then pointed a finger at Azmaria, "You're not going!"

Azmaria's face set and she insisted that she was going. Zelmen's temper reared up again, then promptly died when Azmaria turned pleading eyes on him and said, "Please. She's like me."

"A dhampire? They're others-"

"No." Azmaria interrupted, calling her wings out as her light flooded the room, **"She's like me**. I can feel her pain Zelmen. We all can. I didn't know it's source, but it's her pain. In here." She held both of her hands over her heart, "All of us are connected to each other in a way I have no words for... And right now I am the only one – besides Mimiko-san – who's powers are active. I have to help her."

"...Fine." Zelmen finally said, looking away, "Do as you wish." He turned a glare on Sei, "If she doesn't wake up I'm holding you personally responsible."

Sei nodded and said, "I understand."

Zelmen couldn't actually do any real harm to Sei directly (Sei was to powerful), but they both knew that he could make Sei's life very difficult in other ways. With those parting words Sei took Azmaria to see Mimiko in the hospital.

As soon as they were out of hearing range Zelmen fell down to his hands and knees and gasped and panted for breath. It was a common misnomer that vampires don't breath when, in fact, they do; they're lungs are just more efficient at it, so they don't need to breath **as much**. Her power should have harmed him, instead it did something else to him. Zelmen collapsed onto his side and shook. Her power coursed through him like liquid light, life... And something else that he couldn't name right then.

His body was on overload and he needed to vent. It was only when the mute girl came in that he remembered it was her turn to feed him. Zelmen pulled himself upright as she watched, concerned. He marched over to her and wanted it to be Azmaria.


	22. Unconditionally

**A/N:** In my defense Zelmen wrote this chapter, not me. Seriously. He took over; I had to reign him in more than once.

* * *

Azmaria woke up in a canopy bed within a dimly lit room.

"Did it work...?" She questioned weakly.

A weight shifted on the bed beside her and she looked over. Zelmen Clock lay under the covers next to her, his touk-less head propped up on one hand, the pillow under his arm. Was it just her, or was his hair flame-shaped? From what she could tell he was undressed under the covers. At the very least he was distractingly shirtless and didn't seem to have an ounce of body fat on him anywhere...

Noticing her distraction he smirked and asked, "Want to see the rest?"

Azmaria, of course, got extremely flustered and flabbergasted and tried to sputter out a vehement 'no'. She failed miserably. Zelmen – finding this rather amusing – started slowly pulling the covers down. Freaking out Azmaria stared, torn between propriety and wanting to see more. After everything that had happened with Aion she had joined the Magdalene Order as a nun and had been one of it's last members upon her death. Needless to say she had never seen a naked man before.

Propriety won out over hormones (due to lack of experience on her part and her own self discipline) and she rolled over – inadvertently pulling the covers with her – bringing her hands up to cover her eyes. Now trying not to outright laugh Zelmen moved his upper half closer, draped an arm over her and briefly caught her ear in his teeth, giving a slight tug.

"What's this? Getting shy **after** we've slept together?"

Inwardly flipping out at his behaviour and insinuation she tried to articulate something, but nothing that made any sense came out. Zelmen finally lost it and burst out laughing as he pulled back and flopped onto the bed. Azmaria found herself peeking over her shoulder... And found that he had bottoms on. Infuriated (truthfully, a new emotion for her) she rolled over and up onto her knees, fumed for a second (unconsciously puffing her cheeks out as she did so), grabbed her pillow and hit him with it, exclaiming as she did so, "That was mean!"

He managed to stop laughing long enough to ask, "Why? Because I'm **not** naked?"

Zelmen burst out laughing again at the look on her face. He thought that she looked about as menacing as a fluffy, white kitten in nighty possibly could. He almost pounced on her and pinned her to the bed right then. Unsure whether he wanted to take her virginity, drink her blood, or both he instead rolled up onto his knees and pulled her up against his body. Her face flushed in embarrassment.

"I want you." He told her bluntly, "Every since you let your power bloom in the parlour it has been coursing through me, singing the sweetest notes..." He leaned in and drank in her scent at her neck, "What's your aspect?"

"M-My aspect?"

Why did he always manage to make her stutter so much? Why did she always feel so strange around him?

"Your Apostle aspect." He patiently clarified, still taking in her scent.

It was strangely calming and arousing at the same time. Her body was sending him signals that the attraction was reciprocated, so he wasn't surprised that she was having a little trouble following what he was saying. He had that effect on women.

"Ch-Charity."

"Charity... Unconditional love..."

Muttering an oath, he let her go with a slight twist that had her falling onto the mattress. It had been an instinctive move that was normally followed by him either getting on top of the woman, or taking off articles of clothes. He did neither, just stared down at her as she stared back at him, confused. The last thing that he wanted to do was have anyone – even Azmaria – know that she was now his greatest weakness. The nature of her power meant that when she let it out like she had in the parlour anyone within the range of it's light would feel her unconditional love going through them along with that power. It was the unconditional love that was affecting him so much, not her power. Well, not as much.

There was not a living thing in the world that did not – on some level – want unconditional love. His response was only natural. Who wouldn't want such a lover for themselves? At least now he understood why she had suddenly become so physically attractive to him even though she was such a waif (he liked his women with a fuller, hour-glass figure). Settling back on his haunches he considered the situation carefully (fully aware that his hormones were strongly influencing his thought processes) as he continued to stare at the flustered Apostle. He smirked when she finally noticed that her nighty had hiked up past her knees and she hurriedly pushed it back down. He wondered if she had always been so modest and how he would have responded had she been physically younger than she currently was. He came to the conclusion that he would have stuck around and waited until she was old enough, **then** made her his.

Finally, he came to a decision and said, "One day you will be mine."

"Eh?!" Was the best that Azmaria could manage, thoroughly startled.

"Maybe not tomorrow, or next week, or ten years from now. Maybe not even in a century... But one day you will willingly lay before naked as I take you to heights of pleasure you can't even begin to imagine."

Azmaria discovered about then that she could pass out from embarrassment. Zelmen was a bit surprised and decided that it was time for her to eat... As soon as she woke up again.

* * *

It only took five minutes, but when she did she found Zelmen kneeling over her (she blushed brightly) holding a blood packet in front of her eyes. Pulling it out of the way he said, "I forgot to mention; you need to drink blood for awhile, until you recover."

The very idea was nauseating, but she drank it down as he gave it to her... And discovered that she liked it. Azmaria had no idea how much Zelmen enjoyed feeding her the blood and watching her take it down. He figured that she wouldn't understand why he did and so made no comment since it wasn't something he could really explain anyway.

When she had taken down as much as she could she slept. When she woke up they repeated the process.

* * *

**A/N:** Ahem... Well. Like I said, Zelmen took over and wrote this chapter... I was a bit nervous about posting this chapter. *Cough* Hope no one got put off by this chapter. Gigolo by Helena (Elena?) Paparizou was playing while I was posting this... -.-


End file.
